Simon & Garfunkel said it best

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Chase is very good.

Nigel will start soon.

Defense is good.

Sean and Caedin might confuse me this season being on the court as often the were, and project being as starters

Zaide was second in minutes 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Defense was superb.

Offensive rebounding was excellent.

Defensive rebounding was putrid.

Loved how much we got to the line. Didn't love what we did when we got there.

Turnovers were fine in context. First game, Sean's first game in years, Albany plays a funky defense, last year Albany was very good at forcing turnovers, it's part of their DNA.

Shooting was putrid. Last year, I would have said that it will come around. After watching Joplin and Kam struggle all season, I'm a bit gun shy. But statistically, it should come around.

Spread was 21, we won by 27 with a terrible shooting game. Definitely more positives than negatives in this one.

[Mutaman]

Good thing they had their musical talents. Just like you, they would be totally worthless on a basketball court.

Not so fast my friend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff8LEx9Mw54

[DoctorV]

Any concerns about the brutal 3pt shooting?

Nope. Unfortunately I've kind of become accustomed to it.

This years team has two drive and distribute or finish first PGs, so I doubt it becomes settle for 3 happy.

When they see good defenses that collapse the lane it'll become a problem, but both SJ22 and NJ0 are more adept at breaking down bigger and more organized defenses than their predecessors.

We had better passing PGs and finishing PGs in the past, but I said this before Sean's injury- his biggest strength was breaking down organized good defenses. They just attack off the dribble and are shifty enough to break a defense down. They will turn it over plenty, but they will also succeed plenty amongst the trees.

This years team will be more effective at one on one attacking, so hopefully we see more of a version of last years StJ offensively- relentless attacking.
StJ settled for plenty of mid range shot, and Marquette will settle for plenty of 3s, but hopefully they start to go down a bit more.

I highly doubt Nigel starts over Sean soon- Shaka has said that SJ22 spends the most amount of time being a student of the game than anyone on the team and he will reward that.
I suppose I could see a smaller lineup with Sean and Nigel together in the backcourt and Benny moving to the 5, Chase at the 4, but I don't think Shaka wants to do that.
So more than likely, given health, Nigel is one of the first off the bench all season

[Mutaman]

Simon & Garfunkel recorded Sounds of Silence initially as an acoustic song and it bombed. Without telling them, their producer, Tom Wilson, remixed it with a rock backing band and released the new mix. According to Simon he was in Europe when he got a telephone call from Wilson : "Are you sitting down, you've got the number one single in the United States".

Those were the days when having the #1 song was a really big deal.

[BM1090]

Liked what I saw from NJ and AS.

Phillips shot looks smooth, it'll fall. But he's behind the others on defense.

Need a lot more from Royce. Aggressiveness is good, but too many dumb plays.

Nice to see Ben playing tough. Not sure playing at warp speed will help his shooting though.

Tre looks improved. Zaide looks real solid.

Chase looks like he has the mentality to lead the team. I'm not convinced he's skillful enough. Not sure where this team goes end of shot clock, but lots of time to figure it out.

Overall I thought it was a promising start. There will be some big clunkers but the ceiling is high. Speed, length, and athleticism increase is notable.

[MU82]

Everything in context - Albany is quite bad. Also, as someone else said above, there was so much substituting and so many combinations out there, it undoubtedly hurt continuity on offense.

The biggest positive IMHO is that James only had cramps and that he's OK. He actually looked great in his 2-3 minute stint after returning to the court.

Ross was the best player on the court by far. Got loose with the ball a couple of times, but otherwise was in control and got to where he wanted. His shot looked good, and he was awesome on D. He's gonna have a big season.

Our defense was superb throughout. Loved causing havoc with the 1-2-2 press. Owens is a tough player to pass around or over. James, Jones, Ross, Lowery, Norman ... they were all active and effective.

Sean showed no traces of knee problems, still looked quick as hell. But watching him drive into all the trees with nowhere to go and nowhere to pass is painful.

The whole team looked more comfortable offensively in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Ross, Owens and Lowery really settled in and made some nice plays. Norman had a nice stretch, including an impressive drive; I'd take what he contributed tonight in every game.

Gotta shoot better than that from 3 - hopefully we can, because those 3s are gonna be open all season. We also have to convert after we get steals. There were a few too many poor decisions and missed shots when we should have had layups. Would be nice to make more of our FTs, too. An airball, Ben? Really? (Gold played well on D, though.)

I was really surprised that Parham played so little in the first half - I thought maybe he was hurt or something. He played a lot more in the second half and was OK.

James is definitely going to be a stud. Stevens certainly looked like he belonged out there. Some decent work by Clark, as well - an intriguing prospect.

Some of the offensive rebounds we allowed were fluky - off airballs, deflections, etc. But still far too many given up. A familiar refrain, of course.

We're used to Kolek and Kam controlling the pace and keeping the offense organized. The combination of new PGs and the pace Shaka wants them to play will be a huge change. Here's hoping we can be fast but not rushed and careless.

All in all, a good first game to shake off the rust and any jitters. Covered the spread, and still a ton of room for improvement.

We Are Marquette!

[tower912]

Tower, I love your recaps but this must have been preprepared. If it's off the top of your head you should be a poet. Even if it was precooked I love it.

I started it early in the second half.  It all came from 'slow down, you're moving too fast.'   

[tower912]

A switch was flipped at halftime.   The first half was spent hoisting 3s.  The second half was spent getting to the rim.  The 3 pt shots weren't bad shots, per se, but they young team had too much energy and adrenaline. 

[MuggsyB]

Liked what I saw from NJ and AS.

Phillips shot looks smooth, it'll fall. But he's behind the others on defense.

Need a lot more from Royce. Aggressiveness is good, but too many dumb plays.

Nice to see Ben playing tough. Not sure playing at warp speed will help his shooting though.

Tre looks improved. Zaide looks real solid.

Chase looks like he has the mentality to lead the team. I'm not convinced he's skillful enough. Not sure where this team goes end of shot clock, but lots of time to figure it out.

Overall I thought it was a promising start. There will be some big clunkers but the ceiling is high. Speed, length, and athleticism increase is notable.

Solid points. 

[tower912]

What bothered me. 
Damarius at the 4.  There were at least 3 sequences where Ben helped and contested the shot.  Damarius was the 4, along with Chase, and both found themselves under the basket when the ball came off the rim.  Not in position for the rebound.  All resulted in baskets, two in fouls on Ben contesting the shot after the offensive board.

Sean trying so hard to be a facilitator that he passed on a lay up to throw a wraparound d bounce pass at Clark's shins.  Clark ain't catching that pass.

Settling 4 3s early.  They got out of it.

Sean and Nigel are still short and both had get in the paint with nowhere to go moments.  To be expected.

Rebounding. 

The rotations and substitutions were a Jackson Pollock painting.   Which is OK for opening night.

By the way, the answer to the high pick and roll appears to be double and recover, at least on opening night.

[MuggsyB]

Not so fast my friend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff8LEx9Mw54

Yes.  Prince actually could hoop.  This is completely based on a true story and Scoop Snoop as usual was Whistling Dixie. 

[tower912]

...it took them 4 tries
To rebound the basketball...

[tower912]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm4rJs-TNzo

11 minutes for your ride to work.    Need better rebounding.   Caedin earned the starting role by how he practiced and worked over the 6 weeks of practice.   


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFO41SYiX0U

Players talk

[MU82]

Sean and Nigel are still short and both had get in the paint with nowhere to go moments.  To be expected.

Hopefully, as both settle into their roles and become more accustomed to playing at this level (in Sean's case, re-accustomed), it happens less and less.

There have been a lot of fine, shorter guards who didn't repeatedly get in trouble like that. They learned from experience and adapted.

It only happened a couple of times to Nigel last night. Sean, it seems to be in his DNA.

[MuggsyB]

Nope. Unfortunately I've kind of become accustomed to it.

This years team has two drive and distribute or finish first PGs, so I doubt it becomes settle for 3 happy.

When they see good defenses that collapse the lane it'll become a problem, but both SJ22 and NJ0 are more adept at breaking down bigger and more organized defenses than their predecessors.

We had better passing PGs and finishing PGs in the past, but I said this before Sean's injury- his biggest strength was breaking down organized good defenses. They just attack off the dribble and are shifty enough to break a defense down. They will turn it over plenty, but they will also succeed plenty amongst the trees.

This years team will be more effective at one on one attacking, so hopefully we see more of a version of last years StJ offensively- relentless attacking.
StJ settled for plenty of mid range shot, and Marquette will settle for plenty of 3s, but hopefully they start to go down a bit more.

I highly doubt Nigel starts over Sean soon- Shaka has said that SJ22 spends the most amount of time being a student of the game than anyone on the team and he will reward that.
I suppose I could see a smaller lineup with Sean and Nigel together in the backcourt and Benny moving to the 5, Chase at the 4, but I don't think Shaka wants to do that.
So more than likely, given health, Nigel is one of the first off the bench all season

Ty.  I wasn't particularly thrilled with Parham's defense yesterday.  I don't think it can be emphasized enough how important Owens and Parham are to this team.  Unless we want to go ultra diminutive and play 4 guards a lot.

Zaide, Tre, and Chase are all capable of rebounding the ball.  My gut feeling is Zaide is ready to take that next step and be on the floor a lot.  I was most pleased with his passing off the bounce.  This is a skill some of our guards have struggled with and it's vitally important.  As for JTY, I think he'll be better.  It was his first game in a long time.  The key to this team will be our front court and whether they can consistently produce.  My initial thought is they have to rebound/defend and diversify their offensive games.  Simply launching spot 3's isn't enough. 

[avid1010]

They are doing everything they can to not play against a set defense, and to make a defense defend against multiple close-outs.  All that said, they're obviously going to have to make 3's.  In a game where advanced stats are so important, I stil think it comes down to 3-pt % for this team. 

[tower912]

It comes down to 3 pt shooting for a lot of teams.  Most encouraging to me was that a young team heeded what the coaches said and quit hoisting 3s in the second half.  That has not always been the case.

Eventually, the team will have to make some 3s.

[BallBoy]

First games with a new set of team members are always a challenge to play well across all aspects of the game.  Coming from the game, things I will keep an eye on as "areas of concern." 

1.  Shooting - We weren't hitting the outside shot.  We were getting open looks so is that a first night jitters thing or a trend.  If we don't improve in this category, I think we are fringe tournament.  If we do, then we are solidly in just on our defense.
2. We were all over the place on defense and there was an amazing stretch but we didn't convert on those turnovers.  I think some of that was the first game attempt to do too much.  I think with our shooting we need to improve points off turnovers.
3. Point guard - When James went down and Jones got in foul trouble, the question became who can run point. 
4. The growth of Gold, Lowery, Owens, Parham, and Ross isn't where it needs to be.  I don't know who on that list I can trust to get a basket when we need one. The next wave of players Jones, Norman Hamilton, Clark, Phillips and Stevens aren't game changers on the offensive end.  James looked to be the best of the new class and someone who could step be the offensive engine.
5.  If we don't improve from the outside, I think we see a healthy dose of packed in D with limited help D, especially against teams with a big guy down low who can defend/alter a shot when James and Jones get into the paint.
6.  We won on defense today but that won't carry us against UConn, SJ, and Creighton.

No one player got a normal amount of minutes, which I think was also part of the problem.  As the season progresses, I think we Gold, Ross, Lowery, Jones get the lion's share of the minutes with James, Hamilton, Owens, and Parham filling out the main rotation.  Everyone else will fill in as needed.

[dgies9156]

Shaka wou;dnt give the nod to a frosh over a vet like sean imo, unless he was wayyyy better

Exactly.

James may be the most talented guard on the team but the experience of a year on the bench, subbing out for players with more experience, is a critical part of the "G" in RGV.

Otherwise, you end up with Henry Ellenson. Yuck!!!!

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Ty.  I wasn't particularly thrilled with Parham's defense yesterday.  I don't think it can be emphasized enough how important Owens and Parham are to this team.  Unless we want to go ultra diminutive and play 4 guards a lot.

Zaide, Tre, and Chase are all capable of rebounding the ball.  My gut feeling is Zaide is ready to take that next step and be on the floor a lot.  I was most pleased with his passing off the bounce.  This is a skill some of our guards have struggled with and it's vitally important.  As for JTY, I think he'll be better.  It was his first game in a long time.  The key to this team will be our front court and whether they can consistently produce.  My initial thought is they have to rebound/defend and diversify their offensive games.  Simply launching spot 3's isn't enough. 

I think you can retire JTY as Kam is gone. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

First games with a new set of team members are always a challenge to play well across all aspects of the game.  Coming from the game, things I will keep an eye on as "areas of concern." 

1.  Shooting - We weren't hitting the outside shot.  We were getting open looks so is that a first night jitters thing or a trend.  If we don't improve in this category, I think we are fringe tournament.  If we do, then we are solidly in just on our defense.
2. We were all over the place on defense and there was an amazing stretch but we didn't convert on those turnovers.  I think some of that was the first game attempt to do too much.  I think with our shooting we need to improve points off turnovers.
3. Point guard - When James went down and Jones got in foul trouble, the question became who can run point. 
4. The growth of Gold, Lowery, Owens, Parham, and Ross isn't where it needs to be.  I don't know who on that list I can trust to get a basket when we need one. The next wave of players Jones, Norman Hamilton, Clark, Phillips and Stevens aren't game changers on the offensive end.  James looked to be the best of the new class and someone who could step be the offensive engine.
5.  If we don't improve from the outside, I think we see a healthy dose of packed in D with limited help D, especially against teams with a big guy down low who can defend/alter a shot when James and Jones get into the paint.
6.  We won on defense today but that won't carry us against UConn, SJ, and Creighton.

No one player got a normal amount of minutes, which I think was also part of the problem.  As the season progresses, I think we Gold, Ross, Lowery, Jones get the lion's share of the minutes with James, Hamilton, Owens, and Parham filling out the main rotation.  Everyone else will fill in as needed.

I'm not sure how you can say the growth of Gold, Lowery, Owens, Parham, and Ross isn't where it needs to be based on one game with disjointed rotations against a bad team.  That's way too small of a sample size to come to that conclusion. 

[WhiteTrash]

The past few years we didn't seem to get much better during the season, just very good teams game 1 to the end. I'm hoping this is the year we see significant growth/improvement during the season. I trust in Shaka that we will.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

The past few years we didn't seem to get much better during the season, just very good teams game 1 to the end. I'm hoping this is the year we see significant growth/improvement during the season. I trust in Shaka that we will.

In Shaka year 2, there was significant in season growth. 8-3 non-conference to 17-3 BE proves that.

[Elonsmusk]

First games with a new set of team members are always a challenge to play well across all aspects of the game.  Coming from the game, things I will keep an eye on as "areas of concern." 

1.  Shooting - We weren't hitting the outside shot.  We were getting open looks so is that a first night jitters thing or a trend.  If we don't improve in this category, I think we are fringe tournament.  If we do, then we are solidly in just on our defense.
2. We were all over the place on defense and there was an amazing stretch but we didn't convert on those turnovers.  I think some of that was the first game attempt to do too much.  I think with our shooting we need to improve points off turnovers.
3. Point guard - When James went down and Jones got in foul trouble, the question became who can run point. 
4. The growth of Gold, Lowery, Owens, Parham, and Ross isn't where it needs to be.  I don't know who on that list I can trust to get a basket when we need one. The next wave of players Jones, Norman Hamilton, Clark, Phillips and Stevens aren't game changers on the offensive end.  James looked to be the best of the new class and someone who could step be the offensive engine.
5.  If we don't improve from the outside, I think we see a healthy dose of packed in D with limited help D, especially against teams with a big guy down low who can defend/alter a shot when James and Jones get into the paint.
6.  We won on defense today but that won't carry us against UConn, SJ, and Creighton.

No one player got a normal amount of minutes, which I think was also part of the problem.  As the season progresses, I think we Gold, Ross, Lowery, Jones get the lion's share of the minutes with James, Hamilton, Owens, and Parham filling out the main rotation.  Everyone else will fill in as needed.

Talk about jumping to some negative conclusions after 1 game!  A game in which we set a program record for kills, held the opposition to .69 points per possession, and won by 27 on a night where we shoot 5-24 from three - I was very pleased.

Chase Ross was running A LOT of PG during the game - that's the answer to your question about after SJ/Nigel.

Lowery is going to be a stud.  Stevens looks like a great wing.  Nigel showed great promise.  Gold was okay. Owens started slow, but finished well. Tre Norman played a very nice game.  Josh Clark?  Talk about some serious upside potential.  The two guys who didn't play as well as we might expect - Royce and Caedin.

I'd be shocked if this isn't an NCAA team, even if it is a poor shooting 3 point team.